Welcome to South Africa!

Hello from Stellenbosch! I’ve been here exactly a week and I’m already in love with this place! It’s stunningly beautiful and sunny. So far I have just been trying to get settled in and explore more of Stellenbosch. I live in Concordia in Academia. It’s essentially multiple dorms (such as Concordia) put together and overall called Academia. International students live in Concordia or Academia so we’re surrounded by students from many different nations. I live in a flat with three other girls in my program and I get my own bedroom and bathroom. We have a common area where we have a small kitchen and some tables and chairs. One of the main adjustments has been the lack of air conditioning! Very few places on campus have AC and it’s in the 80s most days with humidity. Luckily years at CAMP have prepared me for no AC but it has been an adjustment, especially at night! Everyone just throws their windows open and lets the breeze flow in.

The view from outside my flat

The people in Stellenbosch are quite friendly. We just got internet access in our flats today, which I think has been good in a way because it forces us to reach out and get to know the people around us. Our resident director, Mama H, told us that South Africa is the only country where Facebook usage is decreasing; South Africans prefer to talk with each other and be social. We had most of us from the AIFS group and some other students at a cheese and wine night last Wednesday. At one point I realized that not one of us was on our phones! I can’t remember the last time I was at a college party where at least one person was not using their phone. Instead we had a lovely night of chatting and getting to know each other. All of us have to relearn how to use not smart phones; we got simple cell phones to communicate locally. I used to be so good at texting using 9 buttons, now I’m lucky if I can tap out a simple text in under a minute!

Stellenbosch University. Most of the buildings are colonial and white. And have long names.

This is actually the first semester of the school year for South Africans so there are tons of freshman moving in and going through orientation. There’s a definite air of excitement around us! Living on campus doesn’t work like I’m used to at Tech. At 

Stellenbosch you have to apply to live in campus in one of the Residences. They function like sororities and fraternities essentially. If you live off campus you apply for a Private Student Organization (PSO), which has the same Greek life feel to it. They were experimenting with allowing international students to join a PSO so some of us went to an event on Saturday morning with them. It had a definite freshmen orientation/rush feel to it so we ended up skipping out and going to the Grape Harvest Parade instead! Later that night we went to the Wine Street Festival. We got a wine glass and unlimited wine tastings at 20 wineries for R30 ($3). It was a lovely night outside and so much fun. I can’t wait to get to taste more wine at the wineries in the area!

My flatmates and I getting ready to go to the wine street festival

Enjoying my wine at the festival

On Sunday we went into Cape Town. We went through Cape Town when we flew in last Monday evening but I’m convinced most cities look the same under the blanket of darkness. Driving in the sun showed us everything we missed. The scenery is stunning but we all got our first view of the townships. I had read about them but little can prepare you for thousands of shack houses built one after another. It went on for miles. In as little as ten minutes we passed some of the most expensive property in Cape Town. It’s a sobering juxtaposition. We passed by some graffiti that said “This town only works for a few.” It should be interesting to get to see more of the real South Africa over the next six months, especially through my LSCE class.

We got to spend some time on Victoria Wharf in Cape Town and then went down to Clifton beach. The water was freezing but we still went in a couple of times to cool off from the sun. Most of us have sunburns after yesterday but the views of the ocean were well worth it.

Clifton beach was absolutely stunning! And incredibly sunny.

We don’t start classes until February 3^rd so we have the next week to relax and get comfortable with Stellenbosch. I’ve photo dumped in Facebook for anyone wanting to see more photos of my adventures!

With Love from South Africa,

Colleen 

Why South Africa?

This question has plagued me ever since I announced my intentions to study abroad in South Africa sometime during my freshman year. My journey to South Africa started during my senior year of high school in my AP European History class. We covered hundreds of years of European history but the topic that interested me the most was Sub-Sahara African history. I swore that I would one day visit and see the places in my textbook firsthand. While researching study abroad options South Africa caught my eye and I never looked back. I also hope to work with families and children and having exposure to different cultures and ways of life will make me a better educator. I’m excited to explore the rainbow nation and see all it has to offer!

I will be studying at Stellenbosch University, which is about 31 miles from Cape Town, located in the winelands of South Africa. I will spend half of my time taking classes at the University and the other half doing a service learning course at a nearby primary school.

A map of South Afrcia’s cities, including my new home Stellenbosch!

South Africa on a map of Africa

I leave on January 19th and arrive the 20th! I plan on posting at least twice a month to keep everyone up to date on my happening!